Re-imagining Education for Democracy

Book excerpt: Contemporary education research, policy and practice are complex and challenging. The political struggle over what constitutes curriculum and pedagogy is framed by quasi-markets and technocratic models of education. This has had a significant effect on larger issues of policy. But it has also had profound effects inside educational sites in terms of the economics and politics of what is and is not considered 'legitimate' knowledge, over what should be taught, how it should be taught, and by whom. Re-imagining Education for Democracy takes up the unfinished project of resisting the de-democratisation of education and growing levels of social and educational inequality. Where are the spaces for change and articulating hopeful alternatives? How might we imagine and produce different futures? What are the opportunities for affirmative interference, and how could we produce a more sustainable re-imagining and re-doing of the critical project of education? The work is framed within two complementary sections: the first addresses some key policy, political and philosophical concerns of contemporary educational contexts, while the second provides a series of empirical case studies and other local–global narratives of resisting and reframing dominant discourses in education around the world. The chapters provide a range of empirical, methodological and conceptual focuses, from different educational communities and international contexts, engaging with the proposition of re-imagining education for democracy in multiple and diverse ways. This book will be essential reading for researchers and students of education research, policy and practice.